The Loneliest Boy
by emeraldsprite413
Summary: An OC x Artemis Fowl fic. I do not own the cover image. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey guys~ So this will be a OC X Artemis Fowl fic, because I just feel like there is not enough Artemis Fowl fanfictions out there. Besides, the movies will come along, and I am TERRIFIED. Anyways, I do not own Artemis Fowl (obviously). I'm sorry if this doesn't seem like an Artemis Fowl story yet, Holly and the others will be introduced after a few chapters, so please be patient with me. Thanks!**

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Third Person POV

The bell rang, marking the beginning of school. Students poured in and pushing and knocking each other over like dominoes. Iris walked into school, back hunched over. She walked down the halls to her locker, where she unloaded the mounds of books in her bag, full with knowledge, facts, homeworks, and the occasional fiction novels. Children were laughing and gossiping happily to each other in the halls, mostly about a certain new student.

Iris rolled her eyes. Even three days after first day from mid term break, there was still gossip spreading around the school about the strange new boy that had arrived to the school mid term. There were hushed voices everywhere, and everything said about the boy was believed- how he had arrived from St. Bartleby's school, how he was almost like a vampire, and how he was just as psychotic as his missing father. Iris Venduala had not been affected by the children's claims, as she had found that it was much better to keep her nose in a book rather than in somebody else's business. Besides, new students came all the time. But soon, Iris had found that it was useless trying to pry her eyes away from him, and apparently, this boy was rather speicial.

The first time she saw him was a ordinary school day, with students bustling in and out the corridors, walls covered with tall, looming lockers, with the classic trope of a jock stuffing a boy with braces into his locker while other kids came by to laugh at the nerd. The doors had slammed open, and suddenly, everyone had hushed down. The new boy walked through the hallway, while everyone walked out the way. It was almost like he wasn't a child at all. The boy wore a suit, with ink black hair and blue eyes that almost seemed like it could pierce through your skin. The students naturally swayed away from him. He walked up to the locker next to Iris', and swung it open. Sensing the silence, he asked the crowds of students without looking at them, "Is there anything I should accomodate you to?" The voice rang through the hallways. No reply. The new kid scoffed, stuffing his books in the locker and walking away.

Artemis Fowl (the boy's full nanme) was extremely unique and different from the other students. For one, he was popular, but not in the way where everyone was dying to talk to him, and the one all the girls were swooning over, only popular through gossip-no one ever dared even talk to him. He was intelligent, but not nerdy. He was snarky, quick witted, arrogant, mean and stubborn. He never quite fit in, really. Everyone had heard of the mounds of gold he found and earned. Some thought he was snobby, some thought he was lucky, but all Iris felt for Artemis apart from annoyance, was pity. She knew how it felt to grow up without a father, but worse for Artemis, his mother was highly irresponsible. It probably wasn't Angeline Fowl's fault, but Iris couldn't help but feel like it was. She could've at least been a bit more responsible and keep it together, for her son. Artemis would have to put parental matters and educational matters all at once onto his shoulders, and if it were Iris, she weren't sure if she would be able to handle it.

But soon enough, Iris would have a hard time feeling pity for him. She had an entire day ahead of her full of boring lectures and long homework assignments. Venduala checked her time tables: Math, English, Chemistry, Gym. All of which she was in the same class as Fowl. Great. Iris flung her bag onto her back and walked towards her next lesson.

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"Everybody take a seat. A few days ago, I let you all choose your seats, but for today, seats will now be arranged. You will be sitting next to them for the rest of the year, so I hope you will grow to like them, or at least, tolerate their existence." A collection of groans. Miss Rolex was the strictest teacher ever, and all the students knew that they weren't going to be sitting next to a person of the same gender. "Dean, you sit next to Tammy. Amy, next to John..." Iris was not paying attention to the blabberings of Miss Rolex, and was instead trying to finish up a doodle in her sketchbook. She had almost perfected the eyes. Her 2B pencil skid across rough papers- "Artemis next to Iris." She almost dropped her pencil as soon as she heard. This was _not_ happening. "Iris, if you could please sit down instead of staring at me with your mouth opened like a goldfish, that would be a better use of my time." The class giggled and laughed as Iris' face glowed a strange wine colour, as she plopped down her backpack hastily next to the boy. Artemis was sitting up perfectly straight, facing the board and not even bothering to look at the girl. He had his items carefully arranged, not one thing out of place. Iris, on the other hand, soon had her things lying across the table; mounds of books piled up crookedly and items like folders and a gym suit pouring out of her unzipped backpack.

"If you don't mind, I would prefer if you keep your things to yourself. That is, unless you want me to keep your copy of The Hobbit. Which I have absoulutely no interest in." Artemis' monotonous voice rang out, even amongst the chatter of their classmates. Iris blushed and snatched her novel back, and stuffed it deep down into her bag. The students started to settle down, ready for the lesson. "Now, I am trusted that everyone has bought their books today, yes?" Oh shit. She forgot her algebra book in her locker! Iris kicked herself as a punishment, then proceeded to slowly raise her hand. Miss Rolex sighed. "Yes, Iris?" "I-I forgot my algebra book, Miss Rolex, it's in my locker." "Seriously, Venduala, what ARE you good at?" A few students started laughing at this remark, though it wasn't a bit funny at all. "Artemis, please share your book with her." It was Artemis' turn to raise his hand now. "Do I have to miss? Technically, she could go back to the hallway and get her own book instead of being a nuisance." The students snickered at her for the third time at Iris today, and it wasn't even the start of the lesson yet. Iris glared at the now smirking boy. That bitch!

Miss Rolex, like Iris, was not amused. "Artemis, do share your book with her, or so help me, you can stand outside in the halls and fetch her book for her." The smirk slid off Artemis' face as he slowly lowered his hand. "Now, onto the lessons..." Soon, the entire class was writing down and trying to solve the equation on the board. Well, except for two certain people. Artemis hadn't even bothered looking at the board anymore, and was already reading a phychology book, while Iris sat doodling in her notebook, drawing a dog with an astronaut helmet. "IRIS! Can you please pay attention?" And to think it was just math lesson. English lesson had consisted of Artemis insulting the teacher, and Chemistry consisted of Artemis correcting the teacher all the time. The only interesting part of the entire day for everyone, was gym class. A few classes were having Gym class at the same time, so there were quite a lot of people there.

"Alright! Everybody gather round! Come on, bit closer, there we go." Coach Thomas practically yelled. "Today we're going to start off with a few laps, before we start off a game of football." By the end of one lap, Artemis was already panting and soaked with sweat. And practically, everyone was hating Artemis by the end of the lesson. He could never aim right, he was of no use to the team, and Artemis passing the ball was a pain in the ass for everyone. It was pathetic; watching the apparent criminal child genius struggle at kicking the ball. Along with annoyance, there was also amusement; a lot of people laughing at him by now, most of them who were tired of him insulting them, and Iris was one of them. The pity she once had on him disappeared immediately. The gossip that had once been passed around about Artemis had became somewhat negative- names and insults of his poor physical appearance. The only one left now in the gym was Artemis, bruised all over. Of course, nobody stopped to notice. It was almost like he wasn't even there.

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The moment the end of school bell rang, and everyone was pouring back out the school, and soon enough, Iris was the only one left. She still had to organise her locker, which was overflowing with crumbled balls of junk and homeworks were everywhere, and by the looks of it, it would take a long time to fix everything up. Iris wasn't sure how much time had passed since she started, but by the end of it, Iris had a pile of doodles she could dump up, clean folders, and a neat pile of books. Finally satisfied, Iris closed her locker. _Oh god damnit,_ thought Iris to herself. The sun had already started to set! Iris shrugged the panic away-she could always explain to her mom what happened, and everything should be resolved, right? So Iris started walking off, out the school door and through the recess playgrounds, but stopped when she heard noises from the trash bin areas. Curiousity took over her as she crept there and tried to take a peek at what was going on back there. A crowd of students were surrounding someone, laughing and pointing. "Hey! Left foot Fowl!"

Oh no.

It was Artemis, beat up and bleeding, scratches all over his body. By this state, he could barely get back up again. He didn't seem like he had any broken bones, and he didn't seem like he needed to go to the hospital, but those bruises were definetly going to hurt. The certain 'crowd of students' were the school bullies, joks and popular girls. Of course, Iris should have saw this coming. Iris feels sick as she see's Artemis trying to get up, only to be knocked down, and kicked again and again. He was curled into a ball now, hands over head, letting the bullies hit him. Guilt was swelling in her chest by now, and Iris was immediately filled with disgust for the bullies and herself, for laughing at him back in gym class. "Hey, look at this guy! Can't even fight back!" "Cat got your tongue? Who's smirking now, huh?" "You call yourself a criminal mastermind? Pathetic." "No Butler to save you now, huh?" "HEY!" Iris screamed. Artemis raised his head a little, eyes widening at the sight of her. "SHUT UP!" She yelled. "Who do you think you are, to go against us? Let's show little Venduala what we've got, eh?" A particularly tall male started pulling up his sleeves, peering down at her. Iris knew him-he was Chad, the leader of his gang of goons. "Why're you standing up for that loser, girl? He's worth nothing. NOTHING." Chad laughed mockingly. Iris gave a quick glance to Artemis, who was still shaking from previous attacks. "He's worth twelve of you, in all honesty." Iris snapped. She knew she had made a horrible decision by the look in his face.

But immediately stopped, no longer looking at Iris. Iris turned around to see a tall, muscular man in a suit, laughing coldly. It was Artemis' butler. Let's just say the jock's shit got wrecked. Butler effortlessly scared off the jocks, and gave them a life threatening warning. "The next time this happens, the next time you lay a finger on Artemis, I won't be taking responsibility when heads go thumping on the ground." The gruff voice, which was apparently Butler's, had all the jocks nodding and obeying. By now, the gang was bleeding and had several broken bones, worse than the damamge they caused to Artemis. The gang of goons and Chad were running off, clutching their arms, hoping to never to meet Butler again.

The butler turned to Iris. "Thank you for sticking up to him. I cannot believe I was as foolish as to think he could manage going home alone. After all, it is my responsibility to make sure nobody gets a scratch on him, not yours. If it happens again, give a ring to this number, and those people who did it are good as dead." He handed Iris a piece of paper, with a few numbers on it. "Urm, t-thank you, sir." The butler nodded, and lifted Artemis, who was now unconcious- onto his shoulder. "Um, Sir? The nurse should still be here. She works a longer shift here sometimes, and I know her personally. She could help patch up some injuries before she leaves to go home." And so Iris led the way, where the nurse almost fainted in shock by the way Artemis was bleeding now. Iris sat by the waiting area. It was only fair. It was almost dinner time when Artemis was done, and Iris had slowly walked her way home.

"Young lady, I will NOT tolerate this kind of lateness! You had your mother worried sick!" Snapped Iris' mother, Violet Venduala. "That's it-you're grounded. Go to your room!" Iris nodded, but before starting to walk up the stairs, she called back at her mother. "I'm sorry, mother. I really am. But he was getting beat up, and I...felt...responsible." Iris walked up to her room, flinging her bag (like she always did) and shut her door. Iris' room was warm and nice, with yellow walls and birch wood floors, and rather large, judging she slept in the attic. Posters of watercolours were hanging up everywhere, along with bookshelves and cases on each and every wall. You would have mistaken it for a library instead of an attic if it were not for the slopes of the roof. Fortunately, the slopes were quite high up, so Iris did not have much discomfort. Iris flopped onto her bed. What an eventful day. Would Artemis still have disreguards to her tommorow? Probably. Why did she feel sorry for the jerk anyways?

Violet/Iris' mother POV

My poor, empathetic daughter. Always so caring, and so unlike her father in so many ways. I could never imagine the pain she had to go through, growing up with such an irresponsible father. Now it was just me, and Iris. I finished broiling the macaroni and cheese-my daughter's favourite meal, and cut off a square for her. She must be very hungry, coming back so late. Did she even eat her lunch at all? With my mittens still on, I bought the red plate up the stairs, and knocked on her door. It was a bright yellow colour. Even in dark times, her room never failed to make everyone in this household cheery. "Iris? May I come in?" There was a stiffled yes. I opened the door and gently put the plate down. Iris had her head burried under her pillow, blanket lying on the floor. "Who was the boy who was beaten up?" I asked, ignoring the blanket for now. "His name is Artemis Fowl the second. You've heard of him. Crazy psycho boy and his intelligence. Always so rude. I don't know why I stood up for him." My daughter snapped.

I smiled. Iris was always helping everyone, even if she didn't know she was doing it. I exited the room, giving my daughter a bit of space for tonight. She's got a long day ahead of her tommorow.

 **That's the end for now! I'll be writing about Artemis more tommorow!**

 **-EmeraldSprite**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OH GOD I'VE GOT FOLLOWERS. Oh, the pressure. No, seriously though, THANK YOU! :D I'm really, really sorry for the slow updates. I was actually thinking of deleting this story earlier this week, so I hadn't written for a while, just leaving it there. I'm real glad I didn't though, heh. But anyways, thank you so much for reading! (BTW this happens a few days after the first chapter so yeah)**

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It was 6:00 in the morning, and a warm light shone through an open window, shining directly onto Iris' bed. The attic, which was Iris' dwelling, was silent, and so was the streets in which Iris lived in, with the exception of the chirpings of birds once in a while and the whistle of wind. Iris, who was already awake, shuffled beneath her heavy sheets, shut her eyes as tight as she could, as to ignore the light shining through the roof, but to no avail, failed, as her eyes started hurting from shutting them so tightly. Iris sighed, before getting up. The moment her bare feet touched the wooden floor, she instantly regretted it, as the freezing floor stung her soles.

There was a lot of things Iris Venduala was beginning to regret, and above all, she regretted having helped Artemis Fowl, the rude boy that sat beside her in almost every single lesson. There was no sign of a 'thank you', or at least some sort of sentiment between them, as Artemis continued to be a pain in the ass, and being as rude as possible. After the jock slash bully incident, people had begun to be warier of bullying the genius boy, in fear that his butler would smash their skulls open, and so, they turned to bullying the girl that had stood up for him. Rumors of the boy had now changed to rumors of the ugly girl who had stood up for such a boy, along with people shipping them, thinking they would be 'cute' together. The jocks had tried stuffing Iris into her own locker, but this hadn't worked, as one of the teachers had caught them doing so, and they got into quite the trouble. And while this may have appeared to be a good thing, the jocks had turned to verbal bullying instead, calling her names, and sneering at her, and Artemis clearly had no sign of wanting to return the favor and stick up for her. Iris hated this sort of attention, but she hated Artemis more, and above all, she despised that she stood up for him.

Iris sighed, which was something she did too much of. She was certain she was going to regret being so nice to everyone in the future, when people started taking her as a tool, as a weapon to use. Iris ignored the stings from her feet and walked over to her mirror, looking at her reflection. Scandalous! Iris almost gasped at the sight of herself. Acne had grown overnight, scattered all over her face, while her hair full of knots flew in every direction, while bags hung from underneath her eyes. Iris would have mistaken herself as a homeless lady picking cardboard up from the streets, or maybe a zombie/maniac (Or maybe both, Iris thought to herself) sitting in an asylum, only worse. Iris was already holding in another sigh as she grabbed a comb from her wooden desk and started sorting out the tangles in the mess that humans called their hair.

When Iris was pleased, she picked out a quick outfit for school—a yellow, long sleeved knitted sweater, white socks that reached her knees, and a black mini skirt, along with a—no, she couldn't. People would laugh at her, and mock her, and—screw it, a long blue Ravenclaw scarf. Although she was always ashamed of her obsession of Harry Potter, Iris couldn't help herself as she wrapped the scarf around her neck. She was ready, and yet only 15 minutes had passed. She had plenty of time to do whatever she wanted. Iris grabbed her backpack, and stuffed a thin green book from the bookshelves in, with the name "Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets" plastered on it. Iris liked to read while she walked to school anyways, and Iris especially like reading anything with wizards in them, namely the Harry Potter series.

The cover had a picture of a boy with messy black hair, thick round glasses and a scar running across his forehead holding a sword in his hand, while a dragon flew around in the background. Iris' favourite wizard boy. Just the thought of him bought a smile to her face, as she flung the backpack on her shoulder and started making her way downstairs. Her mother was not awake yet, so Iris just grabbed a chocolate oatmeal bar from the fridge and practically chucked the bar down her throat. God, Iris loved oatmeal bars. They were perfect for everything. Heartbroken? Oatmeal bars. Loving life? Oatmeal bars. Oatmeal bars were valid for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, everything, and nobody could convince Iris otherwise. _This is why people hate you,_ Iris thought to herself, before shrugging herself off and chewing on her bar again, and started heading off. Iris pulled the book out her bag and locked the front door, heading out. It was rather chilly out, even though the sun was shining. This was Iris' favourite weather—cool, but not cold, or more specifically, Autumn. The day couldn't be more perfect. Perfect weather, no people on the streets, oatmeal bars. Frickin' oatmeal bars. Nothing could go wrong.

Nothing.

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TIME SKIP TO SCHOOL

Everything was going wrong. It was math first thing, (IN THE MORNING! Imagine.), Spanish, Social Studies, then English. English was the only lesson Iris liked and was looking forward to, as her teacher was actually decent, unlike Miss Rolex, her stubborn and rude math teacher, which she was going to have to see first thing in the morning. Iris sighed, getting her books for the day, and heading to her class. Students throughout the hub was staring at Iris, even though she didn't look up from her open book, along with the massive stack of books bundled in her arms. Iris wasn't actually reading, of course, she couldn't, when the whole damn world had their eyes stinging into her skin. Iris wasn't looking where she was going, when— "Argh!" Iris fell over, her books falling all over the floor. Iris had bumped into someone, and that someone was the last person she wanted to see.

Artemis was trying to mind his own business, and in his opinion, he was doing a damn good job at it, and so was everyone else until that _girl_ walked in. He swore all the conversation turned to her as soon as she entered the room. Actually, no, all the conversation was about her before she was even present. He couldn't help but actually feel bad for the girl, which had never happened to Artemis before. This had all happened to him before, and because the girl had stood up for him, she had taken his place. All for standing up to him.

The problem was why. Why had the girl stood up for him? For all Artemis knew, he was never nice to anyone, let alone Iris. Artemis had never stopped thinking about this. It had all happened so quickly—Butler was never _not_ there to protect him, and yet, the girl he had insulted and sneered had stood up for him. Out of everyone. It had seemed like a random act of kindness, but after a while of secretly smiling to himself under the covers it occurred to him to that she may had just done it to gain popularity, maybe to take advantage of his intelligence. Bitterness arose in his chest at the memory. It was an insult to him that the girl would think he were to be so stupid as to fall for her tricks. And now, that girl had knocked him and herself over, and her books were all on the floor. He scoffed at the sight of her, before he practically spat, "You know, you should really watch where you're going."

Iris was about to open her mouth to say sorry, but of cource, at that exact moment, the bell rang, and students trampled all over the two, and before they knew it, they were the only two left in the halls. Flustered, she dusted off her skirt and started picking up her books, stuffing them down her backpack. "Sorry about that. I'm Iris, by the way." Iris muttered before lending the boy a hand, avoiding eye contact completely. Artemis scoffed, and shoved her hand away, getting up himself. "You better be sorry," Artemis groaned. "and I'm not an idiot—I know what your name is. Everyone knows your name at this state. Real nice of you, trying to use me to gain of popularity. Of cource you would, you're just like everyone else in this wretched school. I don't know why I thought you were decent. And oh, don't you have anything better to do?" He snapped, before turning around swiftly and strode to his next class, not sparing Iris another glance.

She was trying her best not to cry, even though she didn't know _why_. She was angry, and yet tears found their way down her face. In that moment, Iris had wanted to shout at the self-proclaimed genius that everything he had just said was false. But she didn't. She couldn't. And Iris hated herself for not being able to. Iris hated having insults from her schoolmates crawling down her back at night. Standing up for the boy wasn't worth it at all, not if she was going to have to go through what Artemis did just to help somebody that wasn't grateful. And now she was going to have to go to class, pretending she wasn't crying, pretending she wasn't upset, pretending that everything was fine, and sit next to him all day, with humiliation and frustration and dismay sinking in her chest.

The day couldn't be anymore horrible.

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The rest of the lessons felt like a blur. Her English teacher, Mr. Brown was extremely worried. His best student didn't seem slightly interested in the lesson that she was so obviously looking forward to. At the end of class, when the final bell rang, all the students rushed out of the school, while Iris slowly packed her bags. "Iris, are you quite alright? You seem a bit off today." Mr. Brown questioned. Iris shook her head; her dull eyes void of emotion. "I'm alright sir." _Lies,_ voice inside Iris' head sneered. "Just tired, that's all," Iris insisted. _Lies, all lies._ "Alright, Iris. I hope you get some rest." Iris nodded, while she walked out the classroom, not bothering to get an oatmeal bar out.

Artemis felt horrible. He had definitely overreacted in the hallway, and now Iris was obviously upset. Why was he feeling this way? He had never felt so much…emotion for somebody else, other than Mother. Why did it matter that she was upset anyways? She meant nothing to him. Right? Butler was worried for the boy, who had been a little off the entire week and hadn't talked much at all. "Artemis, I know it is not my business, but is everything alright? Did anybody hurt you in any way?" Butler enquired, trying to keep a steady tone. "I…I'm afraid I'm doing the hurting, Butler." Artemis admit, keeping his head down, looking at the pavement as they walked back to the mansion, side by side.

Artemis doing the hurting? Domovoi couldn't imagine Artemis beating anybody up, for that matter. But emotionally—Artemis was practically a master of snide remarks. He was always doing the hurting in that aspect, but the strange thing was, why did he care now? The thoughts drifted away as soon as the boy began talking again. "It's this girl. The girl, you know the one. The one that stood up for me. I think she's using me. I-I mean, I _thought_ she was using me, I mean…" Butler never thought that he'd see the all famous Artemis Fowl the Second stuttering and failing with his words, because this had never happened. The child criminal mastermind was rambling. It was almost as if Artemis was acting his age. "…And I don't like being used, of cource, but I think I overreacted in the slightest when I snapped at her. She didn't have to stand up for me, but she did, and maybe she didn't use me, and maybe she is nice, and maybe—" Artemis cut himself off, and his face paled. Another thing Domovoi thought would never happen—Artemis was already the palest person he had ever seen.

Butler got ready for combat, thinking it was another one of the teenage punks that he had beat up last time, but it was a girl, with a backpack on her back, shaking. She was obviously crying, and Artemis felt unsettled by the sight of it. _That must be the Iris girl Artemis was talking about,_ Butler thought to himself as his shoulders relaxed (a bit), forgetting about combat for the meanwhile. Artemis appeared flustered as he looked up at his butler, and Butler knew that he was asking for approval. Butler nodded, and Artemis slowly, approached the girl.

"Hey." Artemis said softly, when he managed to walk up beside Iris. Tears were still streaming from her eyes, and Artemis knew instantly that she didn't want anybody looking at her right now. Especially him. Iris walked at a faster pace, trying to leave Artemis behind, but he wasn't going to give up his plans so easily. "Hey." Artemis was practically lunging to catch up with her at this state, before grabbing her wrist. "Let go of me, Artemis." Iris grit between her teeth, trying her best not to show her shaking voice, trying not to appear as vulnerable as she felt. "I-I'm sorry." Artemis stuttered, suddenly interested in Iris' shoes. Iris was obviously not expecting Artemis to say that, as she gasped and looked up at him, waiting to hear what else he had to say. "I'm sorry. I was extremely rude to you," He admit, still looking at the concrete floors. "Even when you stood up for me. I was surprisingly petrified at the thought that you would use me, even though I wasn't completely aware of the circumstances and the facts, because there was a 65% chance you were doing it for the sake of kindness, and-"

Iris couldn't believe her ears. Artemis had apologized to her, and was now a blushing mess. She had to admit that it was actually endearing, and somewhat adorable. "A-and, urm, I hope you forgive me and that we can walk away from each other on good terms and as acquaintances and schoolmates." Artemis said. Iris couldn't help but giggle a little. "W-what are you laughing at?" He demanded, trying to sound stern, but ended up sounding more nervous. "Nothing, nothing!" Iris laughed a bit more, before containing her laughter. "I just—I never thought you'd actually, um, apologize! Heh. Um…yeah, so…um, I accept…your…"

"Apology?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that, um, so yeah. We're on a good basis now." Iris smiled. And before he knew it, Artemis was smiling too. They had unconsciously started walking home together, while Butler was looking from a few feet away, smiling at the two. There was a moment of silent between them, with only the sound of wind blowing heard.

Suddenly, Artemis stopped in his tracks. Confused, Iris looked back at the boy, stopping as well.

"Iris?"

"Yeah?" Iris asked, curious.

"I deducted from the overwhelming amount of oatmeal bars stuffed in your skirt pocket that you liked them, obviously, so, I got you this." Artemis pulled a bar out of his suit pocket, and handed it to her, still not looking at her directly. It was an oatmeal honey bar that he obviously bought at the cafeteria counter at school. Iris smiled, and gratefully took it. "Thanks. That was surprisingly sweet."

Artemis, for the first time after school, looked up at her, and the moment he did, something had overtaken him. Why hadn't he looked at her before? Well, he had, but he never thought that her eyes could be that breath taking. They were a soft green, with a bit of blue and gray, maybe? Along with yellow speckles at the edges. It was almost like a galaxy of some sort. And her smile, and her hair flying slightly, her dress ruffling to the wind. He had remembered thinking negatively of her at night in bed. What was it? It was something about her acne, but that wasn't possible. There was no sign of acne on her face, only slight freckles from sitting under the tree. That was strange. Artemis had never forgotten anything in his life, ever, but somehow, there wasn't anything negative about her that he could think of, and—

"Artemis? Are you alright?" Oh shit. Artemis' face went red as he looked down immediately. Iris laughed again, but instead of feeling angry and humiliated, he found himself laughing alongside her. Artemis walked alongside Iris for the rest of the journey, and found it a shame when she had to go. "Well, this is my stop. See you tomorrow, Artemis." Iris smiled, and opened her front door with her keys. "Wait!" Iris turned around to look at him.

Oh god, why had he said that? He didn't even have anything to say! "Um…urm…here is um…my…number. You can use it to text me if you have problems with homework. Which I-I'm sure you don't! I just, um…you can burn this if you want, I don't care, um…okay." Artemis pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, and scribbled the numbers down, shoving the paper in her arm before running away in embarrassment. Butler had never seen Artemis like this, flustered and embarrassed. Puberty was finally catching on.

Iris smiled to herself, and even laughed. Violet, her mother, had seen everything from behind the window, and even though Iris didn't say anything about the boy, she knew that from that day on, they'd become close knit friends.

And they did.

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 **Thanks for reading! :D**

 **-EmeraldSprite**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: LET ME EXPLAIN. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. I was at camp for several days, and I'm really sorry for no updates, but I promise you I have something planned. Without further ado, let's start.**

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Artemis never envisioned himself with a friend, much less one of the opposite sex. But he wasn't quite complaining that somebody put up to him. However, Iris Venduala could be an idiot. But everyone else was an idiot in Artemis' eyes as well, so Artemis liked to think he kept his standards low. But god, it got on his nerves sometimes. Having to repeat and teach Iris algebra over and over again was not amongst his list of interests.

Iris had a ton to put up with as well—Artemis' complaints about the cafeteria food (even though he never ate it), Artemis' disparaging remarks of the other students, and his habit of thinking that he was the best of the best. His intellect was the highest of the world, Iris was not going to lie about that, but his ego was beyond that (if that was even possible). The boy never skipped a chance to mock others, including Iris, which hurt a lot. Iris knew he didn't mean the things he had said about her, but that was no excuse.

But despite everything, Iris remained Artemis' friends, which Angeline Fowl was most delighted and confused about. The night Artemis had gotten his ass back in Fowl Manor, right after his encounter with Iris. He didn't understand anything that had happened back then, but he knew he didn't like it. The blood rushing to his face, his loss of words, the inability to think. It was revolting to think of how the girl had managed to do that to him. And yet, it felt nice. Butler had told her everything, much to the young boy's horror. The questions poured out.

"What's her name?"

"You gave her your number? You never do that!"

"What does she look like?"

"Do you have a crush on her?

Artemis had to limp through his mother's unwanted enquiries before he disregarded every single one and slammed his door shut. Artemis sighed and scuttled to a corner in the wide room he had.

 _Ding!_

Peculiar. It was Artemis' mobile ringing. Must be a message, maybe a news article. He tried to ignore it, but the repetitive buzzing beckoned. He sighed, walking over and picking it up. It was Iris.

-Iris Venduala started texting Artemis Fowl at 17: 32-

IV: hey

Oh god.

IV: um

IV: never mind

She was texting him. This was definitely happening.

AF: Grammar, Iris.

AF: You saved my number.

IV: of course I did

IV: were friends now

IV: right?

AF: Grammar, Iris.

AF: No, Venduala, we are not friends. Just because we are on a good basis does not mean we are friends.

IV: oh

IV: sorry

IV: guess I took it the wrong way

Artemis was already feeling his heart sink.

IV: but

IV: why did you give me the granola bar, then?

IV: you know what

IV: forget I said anything

IV: it's okay if I'm not up to your standards

IV: but

IV: thanks for apologizing

Not up to his standards? Even though he knew this was true, he couldn't help but feel sick about that. She wasn't up to his standards as a companion, but it felt like a shame to break down what they had earlier on. He was about to text something in, until:

-Iris Venduala logged off-

Damnit. Now she was going to end conversation thinking that he didn't want to be involved with her, which he did. Not that it mattered anyways, nobody would ever want to be involved with _him._

AF: We could be more than acquaintances if you wanted to.

-Artemis Fowl logged off-

Iris 3'rd POV

What a day. Befriending Artemis Fowl, the guy who had insulted her after she had stood up to him. And a free oatmeal bar, even though that was beside the point. He was acting real weird around her too, which got Iris thinking. Why did he stutter? And why the oatmeal bar? Not that she was complaining, of cource. Iris hated herself for loving oatmeal bars, especially when she was trying to think. And the number! She had gotten his number. There was definitely something fishy going on. Should she text him?

Iris hesitated for a while, hand hovering above her phone before she unlocked it and went onto her texting app and started texting Artemis' phone number.

-Iris Venduala started texting Artemis Fowl at 17: 32-

IV: hey

Iris was already regretting having texted him, despite it having only been 5 seconds. Iris didn't expect him to answer anyways—she had heard from his employees that Artemis was always busy, and did not like people wasting his time, and Iris was definitely no exception, despite achieving his phone number in a matter of days. Yeah, there was no way he wasn't using her. Was he using her? If so, what did she have that was so important?

IV: um

IV: never mind

Iris sighed, and put down her phone, only for it to buzz a few seconds later. Artemis. She smiled. He had actually bothered to even look at her message!

AF: You saved my number.

IV: of course I did

IV: were friends now

IV: right?

AF: No, Venduala, we are not friends. Just because we are on a good basis does not mean we are friends.

She felt herself crumble, heart suddenly a few tons more heavy than it should be. Maybe he was using her after all. She should've known. Still, it didn't make any sense! The granola bar, the blushing, the apology, the exchanging of numbers, Artemis would never do that to any random person. But it made sense. Who would ever want to be friends with her? Let alone Artemis Fowl the Second. Her IQ was barely average, never fitting in, not of any use at all—The thought swirled in her head, drowning her in the concept that she would never be enough. Nobody liked her, anyways. Iris brushed away her tears with her knuckles, before gathering the remains of her courage and typed in:

IV: but

IV: why did you give me the granola bar, then?

IV: you know what

IV: forget I said anything

IV: it's okay if I'm not up to your standards

IV: but

IV: thanks for apologizing

-Iris Venduala logged off-

It was such a good day too. Iris always had to mess her own day up. Iris pulled out a novel, tears still clouding her vision, and started reading, wishing herself into the pages of her favourite books, hoping to join the heroes who slain dragons, heroes who had friends and allies and were always courageous and perfect. Heroes who did things Iris could never do and went to places that Iris could never go, and above all, Heroes who met people Iris would never have the fortune of meeting. All of these things could be a blessing or a curse. At least she was safe, knowing that she would never have to meet wretched villains, find ruins in flames, and jumping off cliffs and joining deathly games, where you could die of hunger or more. No thanks. But still, there was a bit inside her that craved adventure more than anything.

Iris shook her hopes away and slid underneath the covers, ignoring all else in the world.

* * *

The Next Day...

The sun shone through the attic window. Iris opened her eyes, although she knew she'd woken up an hour ago. She just didn't want to get up early. Iris looked out the window, bright gray clouds greeting her. The leaves outside were perfectly still, although there was some sign of breeze and cold temperature. The attic was freezing as ever, and her feet almost felt inhuman on the oak floor. It was silent outside, and for a while it seemed as if Iris were the only living being in town. Iris crawled out of bed and pulled out a book. Saturdays were always the best. Nobody to bother her. ' _Violet's probably still sleeping,'_ Iris thought to herself, before slowly creeping down the stair ways, as to not wake her mother up.

She snuck to the well-cleaned kitchen, and started preparing a hot drink. Iris chopped up some milk chocolate, heated up milk from the fridge, and soon her frothy hot chocolate was finished. Neat. Soon Iris was bundled up in her own world, back in her room, ignoring all those around her.

 _BZZT._

Her phone. Iris pulled the phone from her desk to check what was wrong. It was Artemis. She felt a wave of frustration crash over her. What was wrong with the boy? He had just said that they weren't friends. What could he possibly want now?

-Artemis Fowl started texting Iris Venduala-

AF: Sorry.

Huh?

AF: You probably don't want to be my friend after that.

Iris scrolled up the messages to check on what was going on, until she found a single, last message that she hadn't read last night.

AF: We could be more than acquaintances if you wanted to.

He had apologized. Iris fought a smile threatening to creep onto her face. She wasn't going to let him apologize.

IV: hmm, i dont know.

IV: you've obvi made it clear you don't want to be my friend in any form

AF: Are you attempting to mock me?

IV: am i?

AF: That was what I was trying to ask you.

IV: I'm kidding, Artemis.

IV: of course were friends

AF: Good.

AF: Because I'm outside your front door right now.

Iris spat out her drink. Oh Christ. Iris had scalded her tongue and scorched her palm. But she didn't have time to worry about that. He was here? Iris flung her windows open, almost falling out. Sure enough, two figures were stood at the front door, one bulky and one barely visible. The smaller one was holding a mobile phone in his hand, texting away.

 _DING!_

 _DING!_

' _I'm going to have to put my phone on silent,_ ' Iris thought to herself before reading the messages.

AF: May I ask who decided on that puke colored yellow?

AF: It's horrendous to an extent that I wonder if it's the reason why nobody ever visits you.

Iris snapped then and there. Who did that motherfucker think he was? She put on and zipped a thick blue coat and put on her leather boots before opening the front door for him. Artemis, as always, was dressed in a suit, and so was Butler, who gave Iris a nod of recognition. Iris liked Butler—it was almost as if he came out of a fiction book (no shit, Iris). "Took you long enough. I've been standing out here for six minutes and 45 seconds. Do be more punctual."

Iris fought against a face palm. "What do you want, Artemis?"

"Oh nothing. I just came here to stand outside your front door." Artemis exclaimed sarcastically. If Iris wasn't boggling at how tall Butler was (She should've paid more attention when she first saw him), she wouldn't have noticed the quick flash of disapproval in the man's eyes. It was barely for a second, but she sworn it was there.

"Alright then, if you're just here to stand outside, you're welcome to stay outside for as long as you want. Have a nice day," Iris grinned sardonically, trying to close the door as quickly as she could to keep the irony present in her joke, only for Artemis to stop her by putting his foot between the door and the doorframe. He grimaced, obviously hurt by the door smashing onto his foot. Either way, Iris was pleased by his reaction.

"Not so fast," He grunted. "How stupid can you be, really? You know I was being sarcastic."

"That's exactly why I close—you know what, never mind. It's not funny when I explain a joke." Iris admit, before opening the door a little wider. "Hope that didn't hurt you too much." Artemis glared at the girl, trying to repress from laughing.

"I came here to ask you whether you wanted help for the math test that was coming up. Butler almost died of shock, really, but seeing your wonderful greeting, I've decided to excuse myself. Goodbye." It was Iris' turn to stop him. "Alright, alright. I except your help."

And so the morning passed away, with Violet waking up to the sight of Artemis at the dining table and insisting on hot chocolate for everyone (which Artemis immediately refused), and Iris getting more and more frustrated with herself with every question. "No, Iris. That's not how you do it. You are rubbish at this, you know it, right? See, it's this and this multiplied together, then divided by…" Iris found herself dozing off again, not paying the slightest attention to what Artemis was saying, and instead, was gazing at his features. Blue eyes. She had always seen them as a dark colour before, almost like some form of abyss. But now, it was a midnight shade, with speckles of gold. Like stars, one would say. His skin was awfully pale, almost like he had never gone outside before. _'He looks like a living corpse,'_ Iris thought to herself. She was sure to add some of those features to her story later.

Snap. That drew Iris' attention. "Iris, do pay attention. I'm not here for you to look at me." "I was not looking at you. Not in that way." Iris denied vehemently, almost too quickly after his remark.

"Sure, Iris."

Iris shook her head. "Look, can we do this somewhere else? Actually, can we not do this right now? I'm a little tired doing math for over two hours. I'm going on a walk." Iris fetched her Ravenclaw scarf. "You coming with me, Artemis?" Artemis looked a little taken by surprise by this invitation, and shot Butler a quick look. Butler seemed unsettled letting Artemis go off without him. "Butler, it's not for long, anyways. I'd die of boredom within the first four minutes," Artemis groaned, obviously not in the mood to argue with his guardian.

In the end, they settled with a compromise: Artemis and Iris walking side by side, while Butler trailed a few feet behind them, the two not far from sight. Just like the time they walked home together. It was almost like déjà vu. They were soon walking in the nearby park, where browned leaves were slowly fluttering off branches, crinkling into piles on the concrete floor. Wooden benches were put up everywhere, and people with hoodies, mittens and scarves were walking about, or maybe jumping into the leaves with their significant other. It was a peaceful place, and there was a particular bench where she liked to sit to read sometimes. It was a wooden bench with a golden plate on it, saying "IN MEMORY OF HOLLY SHORT", and a few symbols beneath it that Iris could not decode. Above the bench was a nice tree that changed the colors of its leaves according to every season, and was, in Iris' opinion, had the prettiest colors.

This was the reason why she loved this bench. It was mysterious and beautiful there, and nobody ever knew what those symbols meant. Iris wanted to know one day, and spent an awful lot of time there, trying to figure it out. The bench had just suddenly appeared one day, and she had sat there ever since.

Iris sat down, gesturing to the bench, asking Artemis to sit down beside her. "No. Let's find somewhere else." Artemis snapped, and walked away. "Well? Come on." Something was going on. Even Butler sensed this, and sided with the boy. "Artemis? What's wrong? It's okay, it's not dirty here." Iris grinned. Artemis shook his head, crossing his hands defensively. And Iris swore in that one second, in that moment, that there were tears in his eyes.

Iris knew something was going on, but she didn't question it, and walked beside Artemis to another bench, far away. Artemis' tensed shoulders slowly softened, back to his original posture. It was almost as if nothing had happened at all, or at least, Artemis was acting like nothing was happening at all. Iris wasn't going to push him. She knew what it was like to have a secret. Although, she couldn't help thinking back to that moment. Something about that bench must have made him react this way. If it wasn't about the bench itself, it was about the plate. Who was Holly Short, anyways? Did he know what those symbols meant?

Did he know Holly Short personally?

Thoughts zigged through her head. But this ended when Butler put a hand on her shoulder. "Can I talk to Iris alone for a while?" Butler's gravel voice rang out. Artemis nodded, hesitant, taking a few steps back. Iris peered up at Butler, in slight fear now. Butler looked back down at her, before he started talking. "I'd advise you don't ask him about Holly Short, that bench, the symbols, nothing. He's not ready for it. And one day, if he does bring it up, just listen." Iris nodded. That was what she planned on doing anyways. "Good. It's unlikely he'd just went up to your house, claiming he wanted to 'help' you. Keep an eye out, okay?"

Iris nodded, by second instinct.

A lot was going on. The journey back to Iris' house and Artemis' complaints about shenanigans at school were barely clear to her ears. Soon enough, Artemis and Butler had gone, and Iris was left alone to her thoughts. Iris desperately wanted to know what was going on, to ask her acquaintance friend just who Holly Short was. Fantasies of Holly were rushing through her head, head cannons of what she did back then, what occupation she had, how Artemis and Holly had a forbidden love—Okay, that was more unlikely than Violet deciding to paint the mailbox green. Iris giggled to herself, but immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. Laughing at a deceased girl was not respectful.

Before she knew it, Iris was writing in her moleskine journal.

 _SATURDAY_

 _Artemis came over to apparently tutor me on mathematics. Don't understand why he did that. We walked to the park later, and he was acting all crybaby when I decided to sit down at my favourite bench. Wonder what was up with that…_

Iris tapped her pen against the clean, lined pages—a jail cell for thoughts and stories.

 _Mother's making pie tonight._

Iris closed her book shut and slid it underneath her bed, and closed her eyes.

 _'Who are you, Holly?'_

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter! Sorry for no updates, but thanks for sticking by! I've got a Christmas chapter planned for the upcoming week, so I hope you like it. Bye!**

 **-EmeraldSprite**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I should be studying, yet here I am. But anyways, if you've read the past chapter, yes, Holly Short is dead in this fic, and this will be evaluated in future chapters, don't worry. But for now, that isn't much to be worried about. Now that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter none the less!**

* * *

It was almost as if Saturday hadn't happened at all when Monday came along. Artemis was acrimoniously ignoring the topic, even though he wasn't aware he was being overly defensive about it, which only annoyed Iris more. What was Artemis hiding anyways? The two sat separated in math class, taking a test, and Artemis had finished within the first three minutes. "Done," Artemis handed Miss Rolex the sheet of paper, which she practically snatched from him.

' _How?'_ Iris found herself groaning in her mind. Artemis was always the first to finish everything completely correctly. She tapped her pencil impatiently against her table, before scribbling some answers onto her sheet. Artemis' little preparation of algebra that day had barely helped—it was almost as if he were speaking another language. He was already reading a psychology book which looked heavier than the boy himself.

Artemis sure did find a way to be annoying, even when he wasn't talking. Correction – Artemis was ALWAYS annoying. Iris was not in a good mood by the time the lesson ended, with Artemis trailing behind her, still reading. "How did you manage to finish the test in 3 minutes?" Iris was shaking with frustration, mostly to herself. "It's simple—I use my brains. You should try it!" Artemis exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. He seemed pleased with this response, as he allowed a smirk to creep onto his face, before he ducked his head back into his book. Oh, the twat!

"Anyways," Artemis cleared his voice. "Do you think you did well?" Artemis was surprisingly trying to make conversation for once, instead of his daily routine of pessimism and sulking to himself about his bank account, or loudly proclaiming his intelligence and how Iris didn't appreciate him enough for his mere _existence_ , and how he chose Iris out of everyone to stick around with and that he had blessed her with his very presence. The little shit.

"I think I'll pass. Maybe I'll get a 70% or something with a big ass 'B' on it." Iris grumbled to herself. She was going to have to change the topic before the showing off came along, or the lectures about Iris apparently 'not trying her best', or 'you should use your brains, Iris'. Iris _did_ use her brains—it just didn't apply to math and sciences. It applied to imagination, literature, communicating through the internet, coming up with a good comeback. That was about it, but it was good enough for Iris.

Nothing was ever good enough for Artemis, because he was convinced that he was the best living creature to live. The worse part was that he was probably right. In all honesty, not even the teachers would know her name if it wasn't for him. With Artemis trailing behind her almost all the time, gossip and rumors were constantly spread about the two, most of them exaggerated. And Iris didn't care about it anymore, it was much easier knowing that Artemis had his front butt all over the newspapers every day.

Artemis wasn't actually that bad of a person, once you got to know him. It would have sounded ridiculous through anybody else's ears, but it was true. He was more than just a criminal to Iris now. He was a friend. It was strange, though. He had opened up to her so quickly.

Maybe even too quickly.

"Iris. Hello? Are you listening?"

Iris shook her head from thoughts of her friend. "Hmm? Sorry, wasn't listening."

"You really need to start paying attention to things, Iris." Artemis admonished, shaking his head in disapproval. "I know, I know, I'm working on it." The two walked side by side to

their next lesson through the hub areas, people giggling at them as they walked pass. It was almost intolerable feeling eyes all over her, trying to get a reaction out of the girl.

Artemis' hand hovered over hers, almost like he was hesitating, before his fingers started tracing her wrist. "Ignore it." It was almost a whisper, and the act of reassurance was barely seen by anyone, but still, it was present. Iris gave a slight nod before looking away.

It was extremely awkward sitting next to each other in English class, the last class of the day until everybody ran in all directions, desperate to escape from the hell they were brought to. They were starting a new unit on literature and creative writing, and people who influenced literature throughout history, and normally, Iris would have been ecstatic. But the excitement was blurred off from wave after wave of thoughts. Artemis. Why had he put his hand on hers? Yeah, they were friends, but normally he was just so _against_ physical contact. He seemed like the kind of person to shove someone away the moment someone laid hands on him. Maybe he wasn't feeling well. That was why he was acting so shifty these days with his loss of words and strange gestures.

Iris wasn't the only one not paying attention to Mr. Brown, their English teacher. Artemis was starting to regret having done that in the halls, where everyone had their eyes on them. Iris had seemed relaxed after that, but was it worth it? Even Iris felt uncomfortable, having him done that. He could sense it. Artemis couldn't help it, though. Holly had left him weak and changed. It was always Holly. Iris was too much like Holly. Headstrong, strong morals, determined, and the two were too stubborn for their own good (something Artemis definitely did not find endearing). And yet, Iris was different. He just couldn't put his finger on what, which irritated him to the end of his senses.

"You, Artemis."

Artemis looked up from his table, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you think, Artemis? Surely you have an opinion on this, like you do with everything." Mr. Brown pointed out. Well, he wasn't wrong. Artemis hadn't been listening to anything shit the teacher was talking about, so he looked up at the black board, where enormous words were written in dawn pink chalk: WHY IS LITERATURE IMPORTANT?

Four words. Now, that wasn't any good.

Four meant death.

Artemis groaned. It was ironic, really. This question was going to be the death of him. "For your information, _sir_ , I believe that literature is important because…" Before Artemis had the chance to finish his sentence, the teacher had cut him off, which never happened. "No, Artemis. It's not about whether literature is important. It's about what it means to you. So? What does literature mean to you?"

Pause.

Mr. Brown sighed, before he continued to explain. "How about fiction? Fiction in general, really. Why is fiction important—no—why is fiction important to _you_ , Artemis?" Most things meant nothing to Artemis, and literature was one of them. It used to be one of his main hobbies when he was 4. But he wasn't interested in fiction. Not anymore. He relied on pure facts, and nothing more.

Mr. Brown only continued. "Even as a juvenile genius, I dare say you have heard of at least one, single fairy tale growing up. The ones with dwarves, and fairies, and elves. Have you, Artemis?" Painful memories immediately found their way through his head, rushing back in one, ginormous wave, before crashing down all at once. "No." Artemis felt hot tears streaming down his face already.

"Not here, not now. Please!" Artemis croaked.

Too late. Just in a matter of seconds, he found himself sinking in a sea of his own memories—wave, after wave, after wave. Every time he tried to swim to the surface, to breath—the waves would only come down once more, until he sank deeper and deeper. The light was running out; he was grasping onto every breath as he choked on his very own guilt. Grief was practically chaining him down, stripping his life away from him. He had nobody by his side anymore, nobody to protect him, nobody to trust. Artemis felt himself opening his mouth to scream for help, for some form of assistance—

"Artemis? Are you alright?"

Iris had put a hand on his, like he had done in the hallway. The waves slowly washed away, and so did his memories. He remembered how to breath, and the light was still shining through the window, and time had resumed. Artemis realized he had left his mouth hanging open, so dozens of students were now snickering at his reaction. He groaned before running a hand through his hair that was styled with hair gel and pushed back but obviously you don't really need to know that, and dug his face into his palms. He couldn't be more embarrassed in his entire life—having a panic attack of a friend by just the reference of her species, and in the middle of class, where everyone had their eyes on him. What would his father say?

"Artemis, you'll have to come up with an answer for my question by Tuesday, which is tomorrow, got it?"

"Yes, Mr. Brown."

Iris had been staring at Artemis for the entirety of the time that Mr. Brown had picked on him. Artemis looked like he was on the verge of tears. His hands were formed into fists, and his teeth were gritted. School had soon ended, and Butler had walked Artemis home, with Iris walking alongside the boy as well. All three of them walking in silence. In the middle of their walk home, Butler nudged Artemis lightly (in Butler's opinion, of course—he had almost knocked both Iris and Artemis down in one go), and shown his master an email he got.

 _Dear Artemis,_

 _Greetings. It's been a long time, old friend. I need to discuss some matters with you, so if you have time in your extremely busy schedule, I will be meeting you at the front gate of you home._

 _Minerva._

Iris peered down at the message, before a mischievous smirk was etched on her face. "Hey, Artemis? I didn't know you had a _girlfriend_." Artemis could practically hear the grin in her voice. "Iris, Paradizo is merely an acquaintance. Don't get too jealous." Iris scoffed. "As if! Gotta go. See you tomorrow, Artemis!" Iris ran off and unlocked her door, and gave a final wave before slamming her door shut, and ran up the stairs, probably eager to read. Artemis found himself smiling unconsciously, before he realized what he was doing and wiped it off his face. Artemis tried to shake off the thoughts of Holly from his mind, before continuing his walk home. "Artemis. Are you alright, sir?"

"I'm fine, Butler. Just some daily thoughts."

* * *

Soon enough, Minerva and Artemis were seated together, playing some form of five dimensional chess in his lounge. "Your move, Paradizo. Now, what is it going to be—The pawn, or the bishop?" Minerva put her hand to her chin, as if she was contemplating the next move. Artemis scoffed. "Minerva, if you please. I already know that I will win either way—don't waste your energy."

Artemis looked down, crossing his arms and fiddling with his fingers. Minerva had come over for a quick visit, probably for a favor. There was no way she'd just come for a friendly hello. Things didn't work that way in Artemis' life. There was always some form of explosion and bank ransom going on every day, with clients coming in and out and about a million rejected interviews and missions that were simply not worth his time, along with therapists (namely from school) pretending to understand him, to _help_ him.

To think he had thought that the friendliness was genuine when he was so much more naïve and idiotic back when he was young. He was beyond trusting anyone anymore. Nobody would willingly choose to like him, to stay with him, to at least put up with him. All the people he knew, and the few that he genuinely cared for were stuck to him for life, or just for the meanwhile to take advantage of each other. But Iris, as far as he knew, wasn't paid to stay with him. She had willingly stood up for him, even after all that he had said about her.

Iris was…untouchable. She was what that small bit inside of him had wanted for a very, very long time. Someone to truly stay by his side, willingly, no matter what. True, he had Butler, but they were paired for life. Nobody in their right mind would willingly choose to stay by Artemis' side for long. They would go insane. Maybe Iris was a little bit crazy. But that was what he liked about her.

Artemis truly wanted to believe that she would stay by his side forever. But he couldn't trust her, even if he tried, even if he _wanted to_. Artemis was not a boy without enemies. How was he so certain that she wasn't using him? To gain fame, to gain favors, to gain money, even. How was he _so_ _ **certain**_ that Iris was not paid to do this by his mother, so certain that she wasn't just pretending?

But he couldn't help it. Iris was always there for him, somehow, someway. Artemis knew he had all the signs, but he still couldn't bring himself to believe it. There was no way that was possible—

"Artemis, I won."

Huh? Artemis looked up at the boards, only to see that his king was surrounded by Minerva's pieces. His thoughts faded away, and melted into a mix of emotions. He had lost. He had never lost against anyone in chess before. At the most, it was a tie. Minerva sighed before pushing up her glasses. "It is evident there is something on your mind. May I ask what?"

"You asked, Minerva, but there will be no reply to your question. It is clearly none of your business." Artemis snapped. He was NOT in the mood to rant about his attraction to Iris, how desperately he wanted her to stay by his side, to treat him as a friend, and he did not feel like listening to Minerva boast about her wonderful victory.

Minerva's posture seemed to slump slightly.

"Suit yourself. I'll be excusing myself, if you don't want me here. See you again sometime next week Artemis." And with that, Minerva had walked out, her blond curls trailing behind her. Artemis rolled his eyes, glaring at the girl's back, which was fading away. Girls were always so emotional. Artemis got up from his chair, and head his way up carpeted stairs and got his way to his bedroom. He sat on his four poster bed for a while. Damn, he was going to have to think of an answer to that useless question. Iris would know everything about fiction—it was the only part of books that she enjoyed reading—things that were nothing like reality.

Artemis glanced at his numerous bookshelves, before picking one book of the shelves. The Hobbit. That had been sitting there his entire life, and he had never had the time to sit down and read it—not that he ever had the interest of doing so. Iris had been reading it numerous times before. It wouldn't hurt, to maybe pick it up… Artemis scoffed softly at himself. He never would've thought—the criminal genius, sitting down and reading a children's book that he had once said that he had no interest in reading.

In a matter of an hour, Artemis had already finished the book, and was feeling quite upset he hadn't read it earlier. Iris was quite correct—it was somewhat interesting. Artemis picked up his mobile, and started texting Iris to tell her of his new accomplishment.

-Artemis Fowl started texting Iris Venduala-

AF: I have finished reading The Hobbit.

AF: Not that I like it, but I'd give it a 4.4 out of 10.

IV: :0

IV: :D

IV: oh my god

IV: YOU READ IT :D

AF: Yes, I did.

AF: I just told you, Iris.

Iris was grinning at her screen like a fool. Artemis had read it!

IV: what did you think of it?

AF: Utter garbage. Complete waste of valuable time.

IV: :(

AF: What were you expecting me to text?

AF: _Oh, Iris, what a wonderful book! Sure to read it again!_

Artemis had meant it as a sarcastic comment, but yet, her reply came saying this:

IV: yes?

Oh, Christ. Iris could be such an idiot sometimes. Not to say that she wasn't one all the time.

IV: anywyas

AF: It's 'anyways', Iris. Get it right.

IV: I have something to ask you.

Artemis gulped. It was going to get serious when Iris started using punctuation and grammar.

IV: You looked like you were about to cry during class

IV: something in your mind?

AF: I was going to ask you something amongst the same lines. You put your hand on mine during English class. May I ask why?

IV: Stop avoiding my question, Artemis. Besides, you did the same thing when we were walking besides each other in the halls.

IV: Somethings up, Artemis. I'm not that stupid.

IV: Who is Holly Short?

AF: It's honestly none of your business, Venduala.

AF: If I were you, I'd keep your head out of my own shit.

AF: Have a wonderful night, Iris.

AF: Do try to be less nosy.

-Artemis Fowl ceased texting Iris Venduala-

Iris frowned. He sure did think he was unreadable, did he. He was more defensive than ever these days. Butler had warned Iris of not bringing that Holly Short up. Maybe she shouldn't have done that…

Iris was already feeling bad about herself. She may have possibly just ruined her relationship with the boy. Little did she know that Artemis was thinking the exact same thing.

* * *

 **Thank you guys, for reading! That's all for now. I can't promise that updates will come that quickly, though, heh. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **-EmeraldSprite**


	5. Everything Was Alright: Christmas EP

**ARGHHH! I love Iris and Artemis so much, it's unbelievable. I couldn't help myself, I'm sorry. Well, here you go, a Christmas special! (that nobody asked for) Characters may be OOC (as always, I'm HORRIBLE at writing fanfiction). Thanks, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **WARNING: This chapter is made of 40% backstory, 45% fluff and 15% of slight angst, but mainly, 200% cringe.**

 **ALSO ANOTHER WARNING: This will be the only chapter for a long time as I am going on Christmas holiday to travel with my family. Thanks guys :D**

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Everything Was Alright

"Iris, Christmas is a holiday reserved for 5 year olds to celebrate based on a man who is obese due to overdose of solid pieces of fat called 'cookies', and that said man crawls down chimneys, somehow finds a way to fit and intrudes into your house. You are not 5 years old, so I would appreciate if you started acting your age. Put those stringed lights down, miss."

Iris sighed, something she did at least 22 times a day, as well as flinging her backpack on her shoulder instead of carrying it on the back like a normal human being. Iris did as Artemis said, and put down the string lights that she was holding in her hands.

The two teenagers were sitting in Iris' room, one on the wooden floor and one on a chair, currently trying to decorate the tree that was slightly too big for the attic. It was unbelievably cold outside with the case of heavy snow fall and the increase of snow was still growing by the minutes. Iris had hoped to go outside to maybe make a snowman, or at least take a walk and take in the view, which Artemis had strongly disagreed on, hence a long debate (which Artemis won, obviously).

Artemis was staying over for three nights, which both family's disagreed on at first, for many obvious reasons. First, Butler wouldn't go ANYWHERE without Artemis. Second, Angeline, Artemis' mother would be worried sick about being separated from her son and also gushing at how Artemis was finally growing up and starting to have attractions on girls but let's not talk about that, but most importantly, the sex difference. There was no way. But Iris had managed to find a compromise, where Artemis could sleep in her bed while she slept in a sleeping bag on the floor for four days and three nights (which was probably the longest time Artemis could go without Butler). Artemis was slightly relieved to be separated from his twin brothers, who were almost always causing trouble around the house—with Beckett hanging dead goldfish and wearing them as necklaces and Myles doing experiments in the toilets—which took ages to clean.

"Yeah, we're teenagers, but we're young! We deserve to be happy, right?" Artemis scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You and I have _extremely_ opposing definitions of joy." Iris cocked her head, with a smirk on her face. "I'm not sure you've ever _been_ happy, _Arty_." Iris could've sworn that she saw a slight blush on his face.

"I told you not to call me Arty," Artemis grumbled. Iris only laughed, as she took a sip of her mother's homemade hot chocolate, which Artemis turned down immediately, saying he 'didn't do sugar, thank you very much'. Now that was a story Iris wanted to hear about.

"And I do feel contentment once in a while." Now that was a surprise. Artemis happy? Iris doubted that Artemis even knew what fun was.

"Give me a scenario, then." Iris suggested, wanting to know more about him. Artemis seemed to think for a while, before opening his mouth to reply. "Beating my arch-enemies—however deadly—with Butler by my side, which is a tie with being proven I am the smartest living being to ever live on the face of this planet and possibly the universe, although I'm certain we don't need to prove that."

"Your egotism is undying and never ending."

"It's not egotism, it's truth, Iris."

Iris grinned. Artemis never changed, and although others found Artemis' attitude annoying, Iris had seen a softer side of him, and was glad that he showed it to her. Iris was sort of hoping that Artemis would say that Iris herself made him happy too, but that was never going to happen. Although Iris was probably just another one of his burdens, she wished the best for this boy, and hoped that one day, he would find true happiness; where he could be himself and let the loneliness and past faults fade away. It was strange, wanting the best for a possible psychopath and a definite criminal, but who knows? He could be a good person one day.

And for no reason in particular, Iris started laughing. She wasn't sure why. There was nothing spectacularly hilarious happening, there was no jokes, no tickling, no teasing. Just two children, sitting in the attic. Iris clutched her stomach, in hopes to stop the tides of giggles from taking over, as tears started streaming down her cheek.

For a while, dwelling on memories of their friendship, the snow had stopped, and it seemed like the laughter coming from a certain girl was the only noise of the entire street.

For a moment, the remaining birds flying from branch to branch seemed to have stopped moving, turning their heads and beady eyes to the laughing girl and the lonely boy, before flying away (possibly of fright).

For just a second, it was just the two of them in paused time, forever, and for the first time in years, Artemis was at peace. He let his guard down, softened his eyes and his forehead, crinkled from deep thoughts and agitated memories smoothened just in the slightest, and Artemis listened to his friend laugh.

Artemis laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, which was trembling from the previous laughter. Iris blinked tears out of her eyes before her laughter faded away. "Iris, I'm afraid you've gone insane. You may have to see a doctor."

"Oh, shut up."

The snow started falling softly again, tiny snowflakes falling from the blurred gray sky, curves of clouds smudged like paint on a canvas. The longing of going outside washed over Iris again. "Artemis, it's snowing."

"No shit, Iris. Of course it is."

"That's not my point, Artemis. What I'm saying is, we should go out for a walk or something. Please? Just for today! I promise!" Iris pleaded. Artemis rolled his eyes before sighing and turning to submission. "Fine. Let's go, then."

Iris, who was already dressed, jumped up from the floor (almost resembling a jack-in-the-box), abandoning the mission of decorating the Christmas tree, hot chocolate and everything for now and grabbed Artemis' hand and ran out the attic door, excited to go outside into the snow.

Artemis had just enough time to grab his crush best friend's blue and silver scarf from the hanger. He was overwhelmed by the speed Iris was jumping down the stair. "Careful, Iris!" Artemis lectured, "I don't want to have your brains and blood on my best suit when you fall down the—whoa!" The girl jumped into her boots and flung the front door open.

"You jumped down the stairs, Iris. You really need to be more—H-How did you do that without keys? Wait, Iris! You need to lock the door!"

"Mom will do it!"

Violet Venduala's eyes were widened. She had never seen her daughter so happy in her entire life, and Violet was not the only one to be surprised. Artemis was astonished that such hyperactivity was inside such a gentle, pure person like her. He'd always seen her as the girl who loved reading and writing and everything childish, but seeing her fearless, jumping down the stairs and genuinely happy—He like seeing her like that. If she'd been like that at school, around the others—no, if she were like that every day, Artemis would be more than content. But right now, anything was worth her being wholesomely happy like that. Even getting a freezing snowball in his already pale face.

They were running down the streets, holding hands, Iris leading the way while Artemis was practically dragged from behind, not being extremely athletic and hardly being able to catch up, while the Ravenclaw scarf, still in Artemis' hand rippled through the air. Iris was determined to reach to get the bestselling book that was selling out maybe a little too quickly, and in a few minutes' time, they were at the door of the bookstore, the two panting heavily.

Iris let go of his hand (which was a shame, it actually felt nice—not that Artemis would ever be caught saying that out loud). Artemis was red in the face, practically _literally_ collapsing onto the floor, trying to breath.

"I-Iris. You were being highly immature! Jumping down the stairs while almost injuring yourself, not locking the front door, not even bothering to say goodbye to your mother, untied shoelaces for your boots _while_ running, may I add, and forgetting your beloved scarf, that _I_ had to get for you. And we did NOT need to run 4 minutes and 53 seconds to go to the bookstore." Artemis complaint, while making extra care to avoid the fact that Iris had taken his hand.

Iris seemed to ignore his lecture, and only commented: "You got me my Ravenclaw scarf? Thanks!", before taking the scarf and wrapping the fabric around her neck. "Iris, you're missing the point. You could've hurt yourself."

"Didn't know you cared so much about me, Artemis." Iris chaffed, which was extremely vexatious. However, he couldn't deny that it was true, so he kept his head down. "Just, be more careful next time. You have to promise me." Iris' playfulness rusted away, leaving an awed expression hanging on her face, before replying. "I will, and I promise. Now come on! I've got books to buy," Iris leant out a hand for Artemis to grab and get off the floor, which he gratefully accepted, and they entered the bookstore.

It almost seemed like days, watching Iris scan the shelves for a good novel while he trailed behind her. Was this how Butler felt like, following him all day? If so, he didn't understand how Butler managed to put up with him at all. Then again, only two people in the world would willingly do that, and one of them was dead.

"Here!" Iris grabbed a book from one of the top shelves. "I'm going to the counter now, Artemis. Anything you want?"

"All I want, Iris, is to get out of here."

"You do you, Artemis."

Iris skipped to the long line in which people were piling up to buy books, possibly as Christmas presents. Speaking of presents, Artemis didn't have one planned, which was actually sort of disappointing for himself. So now was the perfect opportunity.

"Iris, I'll pay for that."

Iris' head immediately rose up, eyes gazing back into his.

"Really?"

"Yes. Did you not hear what I said? You did not even bring your wallet, or any form of payment." Iris looked down, suddenly interested in the floor. Seeing as she didn't say anything, Artemis continued, not aware of how blunt and rude he was being.

"Your welcome. Think of it like a sentimental gift, to you. A blessing. I have to say, however, that you shouldn't be expecting this to happen every day. Don't get used to it." Iris didn't say anything, and continued to look at his loafers. Artemis scoffed. So much for kindness. And Iris wasn't even grateful!

Iris wasn't as enthusiastic to get home. She just looked up at the sky, watching the snow slowly flutter down, while Artemis held her books for her, and the two walked back in silence. Normally, after a crisp autumn day, walking home, the silence would have been quite pleasant for a change of students screaming during recess, or the mocking laughter of bullies. Artemis wasn't sure he wanted silence right now. It felt oddly uncomfortable.

Soon, the two were in the Venduala Household, and the sky was getting relatively darker by the minute. Violet had lit the fireplace, and Iris spread herself on the carpet, gazing at the flicker of fire. Artemis sat in an armchair, watching the girl. Did he say something wrong? He probably did, as he reflected back on their journey to the bookstore, that she had only avoided talking to him when he had opened his damn mouth.

She had just seemed so _happy_ before, and it sort of hurt to see her suddenly solemn again. Artemis got up and slowly sat down beside Iris, who was playing with her recently dried hair. A strong scent was coming from her—probably the body soap, as she had just finished showering.

"Iris. Did I say something wrong?"

Iris still seemed to be ignoring him, still looking at the ember, watching the logs burn and letting the flames crackle.

"If I did, I apologize. However, it was slightly ungrateful of you to not even say thank you after I paid for you books. I was hoping for at least some sign of compassion when I did so."

Iris looked to the boy, before talking. "Sorry. I know, it was rude, Artemis. Thanks for getting me those. And I wasn't mad at you. I was just…thinking."

"That's surprising. You almost never use your brains, Iris." Artemis let a small smile appear on his face by his joke, but Iris still seemed serious, and the smile left as quickly as it came. "That was impudent. Apologies, what were you going to say?" "I wasn't really going to say anything." Artemis raised an eyebrow, before giving in. He still had suspicions, but if she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to talk about it. Besides, he knew he had _lodes_ of things he didn't want to talk to Iris about.

"Alright."

* * *

Night was creeping on, and soon the two were cuddled up in the attic—Artemis on the bed and Iris on the floor, in the sleeping bag. They had just finished a dinner that Violet had prepared for them (which was surprisingly up to Artemis' standards) and soon it was about time to sleep. Artemis didn't really sleep, even at home. He was almost always working on a computer, or just staying awake all night, thinking.

Soon all the lights were off, and there was no sound at all. Artemis watched the shadows shift, and every single creak would make him shudder. Maybe the strange noise from below was just Violet getting a glass of water. Or a bird. Or a worm. At this point, Artemis was secretly freaking out. He hadn't ever felt like this since a long time ago. And just when he didn't need it, his mind flooded with thoughts. He desperately wanted to turn his back to the rest of the room, and sleep on his side to face the wall, but he had a lurking feeling that it would not end well.

Guilt swelled in his stomach when he thought back on all the things he did—how much pain he had bought to his loved ones. Would he ever be different than the boy that he was when he was twelve? Was he different? Would he ever be a good person? Or was he lying to himself about being good—

Lying to himself that he could ever change?

At this point he could already feel the tears rolling down his face. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. He tried to contain the sobs inside his throat. Iris was sleeping. It would be inconsiderate to wake her from sleep.

"Artemis? Are you alright? You're shaking quite a lot."

Artemis didn't know what to do. It was like his mind went on some form of shut down mode. He couldn't reply—Iris would hear his voice shaking and would continue to ask what was wrong. He couldn't ignore her either—all possible things he could do would end up with Iris asking him what was wrong, and right now it wasn't a question he was willing to answer. He slowly hid himself under the covers. Hopefully she would stop questioning him and go back to sleep.

"Artemis, I know you can hear me." Iris was sitting up straight on the floor now, looking in her bed's direction. No reply. Iris got up, and put her hands on where supposedly was Artemis' shivering body, and removed the covers. Artemis was cradling his knees in his arms, slightly rocking himself in the bed as tears fell from his glassy eyes, sobs now breaking the once still silence of the room.

This was what Artemis feared the most. Iris had seen him in his weakest moments. He felt exploited. "Please go back to bed, Iris. Nothing it wrong, I-I assure you. I'm alright." He croaked. It was almost like he hadn't said anything at all—it came out so…so _quiet_. In that moment, looking at the boy in a state like that, she knew he was anything but alright.

Iris put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to flinch at the sudden contact, but if he didn't want it, Iris knew he would have shoved her hand away. "Artemis, I can't trust that you're okay. I never can, really. But I can stay by your side if you want." Artemis' glossy eyes looked up into hers, before a short nod came from him. His tidy dark black hair was rumpled and his frown lines were more evident than ever.

Slowly, and definitely awkwardly, Iris got into her bed and covered the heavy sheet over herself, enveloping the two together. Iris slowly put her arms around him, and Artemis did the same. Artemis had never felt more strongly for Iris until now. He didn't have time to be embarrassed by the fact that they were lying in bed together. All he cared about now was that Iris was there, and didn't mind staying by his side.

"I'm just…so…so _scared_." He looked down at the mattress, before making a humorless laugh. "Horrible vocabulary for my standards, I know, but there's no other word that could express how I feel right now." Iris didn't say a word. He needed to get it out of his system first.

"I just think back on how I was when I was twelve, and I just…I don't know. I feel…bad. I look back on the way I treated people, the things I did, and it's like I haven't changed, you know? Sometimes I feel like I'm actually…doing some good, and then when I look back on everything—I don't know if I've changed at all. Maybe I'm just lying to myself that I could be a better person that what I was. Maybe I'll never…" He was starting to ramble about his regrets, but Iris wasn't going to let that happen.

"NO. Artemis, listen. You are so much more different than the person that you were, and don't think for a second that you haven't changed. I've heard of the things that you've done, and not all of them are pretty. But if you actually care about changing, then you are changing. Either way, I'm with you, alright?"

Artemis paused for a while, looking at her.

"Get some rest. If you can, I'll be there. If you can't, I'll be there. I'm your friend, and I'll still be your friend in the morning, and for as long as you need. Alright?"

Artemis didn't say anything. He didn't have to, anyways. He pulled Iris into a hug, and let the tears continue to flow down his face and down onto the already wet mattress. Artemis lounged his head onto her shoulder, and whispered into her ear. "Thank you." Iris smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Arty."

For the first time, he didn't mind that Iris had used his mother's pet name for him. Another thought struck his mind. Would it be too soon…? Artemis bit his lip. Definitely too soon. It would have to wait. But he knew that one day, he would have the courage to tell her. But for now, he was going to have to keep it on a lower level of intimacy. The strings of Christmas lights outside gleamed with a faint yellow light, and the snow slowly drifted down from the sky. Iris was asleep, her breath steadied. Artemis let himself smile at the sight. It was funny, that Iris made life so much more...content. He hesitated for a while, before he planted a small kiss on her forehead before letting his eyelids close.

"Merry Christmas, Iris."

And for a while, with a peaceful, sleeping Iris in his arms, everything was alright.

* * *

 **That's it for now! I know, it sucks ass. But thank you if you've read it up to here, and a Merry Christmas to you! :D Unless, you know, you don't celebrate Christmas, if you hate Christmas, or if you're not reading this during Christmas. Um, then…have a nice day! :D**

 **Peace.**

 **-EmeraldSprite**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm baaacckkk! Sorry for being gone so long. I hope you guys aren't mad at me, oops. Technically this is Chapter 6, so…yeah. I'm having serious writer's block, and tomorrow's a school day, and I should be finishing up homework I didn't bother to do.**

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The New Year's festivities were over, and soon every student was groaning in annoyance by the fact that their holidays were coming to an end and that it was time to go back to the hell known as school. Violet Tsirblou had published a new book, so that was another thing for Iris to read. But other than that, every day was boring, long, and pointless.

Artemis had turned to investigating space, and now had more information than anything NASA could even get close to, and the Fowl boy sure did like to brag about that. Not that Iris minded—it was pretty neat. Iris was actually relatively surprised that Artemis had gone years without criminal activity. Well, not that she completely believed this fact herself—there were always going to be things nobody but Artemis would know about, and maybe it was better this way.

Or not.

You never knew with him.

Anyways, it was Social Education lesson, and so of _course_ the teacher would be talking about _puberty_ , and how adults knew how _confusing_ and _annoying_ it was, and how teachers would _understand,_ while all the students groaned in either annoyance or embarrassment. Artemis skipped this lesson all together as much as possible when he was sure Angeline wasn't watching from surveillance cameras that Butler set up—cameras that watched him 24/7, until Artemis was right in front of Butler again. There was no changing the fact that Butler was always watching him, but even Angeline left Artemis to his shenanigans once in a while. And once every now and then, Artemis would drag Iris along with him, out the classroom to go to the library.

This was not one of the cases—Artemis and Iris were very much stuck in the classroom, under the gaze of the meanest substitute teacher ever: Ms. Betty. And while the name 'Betty' sounded innocent, sweet and naïve, Ms. Betty was the polar opposite from the nice intentions of her name. She was practically Professor Umbridge minus the torture. And it still didn't make Ms. Betty much nicer.

Ms. Betty found a way to make every single student guilty of breaking a 'rule'—rules she personally made up; then proceeded to punish said students with detentions and chores. So far, the only students Ms. Betty hadn't managed to put her hands on were Artemis Fowl and Lorelai Richards. While Artemis had managed to defend himself from the punishments with his family name and his ambition (there was _nothing_ stopping Artemis from firing Ms. Betty from her job on spot), Ms. Betty absolutely _adored_ Lorelai. And that was because Lorelai was an absolute bitch.

Like her idol Ms. Betty, Lorelai stopped at nothing to torture and blackmail her schoolmates—especially the girls who fawned over the millions of boys that Lorelai liked herself—and still managed to get away with everything.

And because Ms. Betty was the teacher, she was not teaching the class anything puberty related at all, and as of the current, all the students (except Lorelai) would prefer a teacher talking about romantic interests and family relationships to this. Anything was better than a prissy girl and an evil teacher punishing everyone in the class.

"Liam, detention for not paying attention to what I was just saying. Come see me during lunch." Ms. Betty called out, breaking a tense silence. Not that it was any better now that she had spoken. And the worst part was that there was nothing to pay attention to as Ms. Betty hadn't said anything—she had given every single student an assignment to do a 40-page essay of some bullshit about ancient kings. Artemis, of course, avoided all of this by filling out the little things he still kept in mind. There was a lot of things Artemis knew about, and if he found no use for the information he just absorbed, he'd simply delete it from his mind. It was all that simple.

Apart from reading books, Iris also had her share of watching the television when her mother Violet was out—(which was a lot, considering that Violet went to work most of the time), and having watched BBC's Sherlock, Iris sometimes wondered if Artemis was the result of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty having a child together, but it either made her blush like mad or laugh like crazy whenever it came to mind. And sometimes both. But it wasn't like she'd ever tell him.

Lorelai was currently patrolling and walking past each and every table, checking on every single student for Ms. Betty, making sure they were on task and weren't breaking any 'rules'. And inconveniently, Iris was doodling strange shapes onto her essay paper that she was given, and soon she was drawing a pair scissors, a melting popsicle on a stick, Kermit jumping off a roof, a football, Spiderman, an acorn—whatever came to mind, right the moment Lorelai walked past. Iris didn't even have time to look up at the blonde girl before Richards raised her hand immediately. "Ms. Betty! Venduala's doodling on her essay."

Ms. Betty didn't even have to look Iris to sound threatening. "Detention, Ms. Venduala." Artemis seemed to silently facepalm, and gave Iris a look that clearly screamed: "What did I tell you about doodling?", before sighing, and raising his hand. Ms. Betty seemed to ignore this gesture, and right now, Artemis was fuming. Artemis didn't waste his energy, looked down on his paper, and continued writing. He would get to the bottom of it later.

And after what seemed to be an eternity, (and trust me, Artemis knew about eternity) the lesson was finally over, and the students got out the classroom as quietly as possible, out the hub, and once they reached the stairs, they all burst into conversation, whether it be complaining about the unfairness of Ms. Betty's punishments and Lorelai, or sighing in relief that the lesson was finally over.

"Iris, you really shouldn't have scribbled with your pencil in class. It got you into trouble and now you're going to detention for nothing, and really, as your _friend_ , I tried my best to warn you, I really did. Now look where you are going to be for 45 minutes—with the most hare-brained and idiotic teacher in the school." Iris was not in the mood for Artemis to be rambling, so she slapped her palm towards the direction of the boy's mouth to silence him, resulting in annoyed and muffled sounds. Which was worse and did nothing to improve her mood.

Going to detention for no reason was bad enough—she didn't need her best friend telling her she messed up when she already knew it.

It was going to be a long day.

"Now, Vertrude and Laurence, you both should know why you are here."

It was lunch time. Liam Laurence and Iris Vertrude had their arms crossed and on the tables while Artemis peeked through the door window every once in a while to see if Ms. Betty had lost it and Iris' blood had splattered on the floor, and so far, it seemed like it was going relatively well. "I hope you understand that wat you did in the classroom had crossed the line. All I ask of you is to do what I tell you, and only what I tell you…" By now, Iris and Andrew were just nodding along to everything Ms. Betty was saying. There was no use in standing up to someone like her.

The detention had gone considerably better than the class they just took—probably because they were in a classroom near the principal's office, and Ms. Betty wanted to keep her job. All the two had to do was write lines, and the two were allowed to leave 15 minutes early to eat lunch before they walked to their next lesson. Artemis had bored himself to death and had already left halfway through, so Liam and Iris walked away, with Liam complaining about the injustice of the treatment Ms. Betty gave them.

Artemis was waiting in front of the Art Studios, sitting on a chair with a straight back and a perfect posture. "You're early 12 minutes." Iris sighed and let her backpack slide off her shoulder and fall to the floor, not even caring that her laptop was inside. "Yeah. Ms. Betty was surprisingly nicer for once, but we all know it's because her office is near the principals, and she doesn't want to get fired. Such a coward." Artemis shrugged. "Natural of her to pretend to be a decent human being around him."

Liam, who was actually still there, tried to slip himself into the conversation. "Yeah, I…"

"Don't even try, Laurence. Our conversation is none of your business." Artemis snapped, and Liam immediately shut up. Iris sent Artemis a glare, which he didn't acknowledge.

Soon the bell had rang, and the students pushed their way through and into the art studio. There were black, rusty floorboards, with white walls painted and drawn on over the years. There was a whiteboard with a projector at the front of the room, and a small storage room at the back, with boxes of paint, jars of pens and heaps of cap-less markers and pens lying everywhere. It wasn't as tidy as Iris had envisioned, but it was very obviously an art classroom.

The teacher, Mr. Skroll stood at the front of the classroom, writing these words with his blue marker: Why do we make art? He turned around, facing the students. "So? Can anyone answer this question?" A few shot of hands. "Yes, Emma?" "To record a time, a place, or a person in history."

"Good. Anybody else? You, the girl with the long hair."

"To put our thoughts and memories onto the canvas."

"Anything else?"

"To draw what we can't say."

"To put us in the shoes of a stranger."

"To be ourselves."

Mr. Skroll seemed satisfied with these answers, and nodded. "We make art, to express ourselves and show others who we are, and paint out what we could never say. We make art to make an impact on society, and that is what our unit is about. At the end of this unit, we will have finished an art product—whether it be a book, a poem, a video, the classic painting, or pottery. Think of it as a collaboration with the English lessons. Guys, this is a huge project, and by the end of the year, you will showcase your work to the rest of the school on the school fair, where countless of parents and strangers will see it too. You have six months to get it done before the summer holidays and the school fair."

Iris was getting conflicted and honestly nervous. She wanted to write that book more than anything. But there was no way she was going to be able to write a novel in six months. That was impossible! Well, she could. She just wouldn't be able to write one well. Meanwhile, Artemis wasn't sure whether to write a novel in the style of 'Violet Tsirblou' (the easiest thing in the world) or just go with the regular painting he did once in a while and say to his audience that it was 'expressing the thoughts of a misunderstood teenager going through a dark time'.

"The only rule to this project is to express yourself. Not make something up on the spot and pretend it's you—the entire point of this project is to learn and find out who you are and who you want to be, and most importantly—finding out who can help you reach that point in your life, and seeing if you can help others like you." Mr. Skroll explained, "It can be as explicit and weird and strange as you want—so long as it's you and not just for show. And I want you to take this time to think to yourself what you want to do for the project, how you want to do it and think to yourself—who are you?"

Iris looked down at her hands and started scratching patterns into the table with her nails as Mr. Skroll's question rang through her head.

 _Why do we make art?_

Iris' nails chipped against the surface of the table.

'To run away.'

School was over, and Butler had picked Artemis up (quite literally—it got quite a few laughs from other students) from school, while Iris walked home alone. The sky was quite pretty. A strange rusted pink, along with a nice shade of orange blended and dusted in. Clouds framed the sky, and the occasional flock of birds flying through as the sky got relatively darker, and the pinks and oranges faded to ink blues and blacks, the clouds fading into the scenery.

Iris had finished her homework and made herself instant noodles for dinner—there was nothing in the fridge. She finished watering her plants and decided to crawl into bed early, which was surprising, since it was a Friday. Normally she'd stayed up late at night, watching Netflix or binge reading a series. But she felt oddly tired today. Violet was out, and Iris wasn't sure for what reason. She laid on her stomach on the bed, and played with the creases of her blanket.

 _Think to yourself—Who are you?_

Iris shut her eyes and flopped over, lying on her back again. She wasn't sure she knew what exactly she was but a speck. A freckle in the vast and inconceivable multiverse, and for a while, it was almost like she was there, holding onto her last breath and floating amongst the stars.

* * *

 **I know, this chapter is really, really short, and I am so sorry for that. But that's it for now. Next chapter will hopefully be better, and hopefully by then I will be over my writer's block. But for now, Thank you for reading up to here and being so patient! :D**

 **Peace.**

 **EmeraldSprite, out.**


End file.
